09_Nike

Eco-design has hit a noteworthy milestone: It's no longer compelled to brag. Next month, for example, Nike is due to launch a performance shoe, the Soaker, with some very enviro-friendly features: snap-in midsoles that enable easy disassembly for recycling, 100% recycled laces, and "green rubber" that has 96% fewer toxins. But the Soaker leaves those benefits implicit; it's a green product without the green sheen. Lorrie Vogel, general manager of Nike's Considered team, which seeks to intertwine design innovation and conservation, says the overall goal for products like the Soaker is to deliver more from less: less energy, less waste, and fewer chemicals. In fact, Nike has almost completely eliminated PVCs and reduced the use of chemical organic solvents by 95% in all of its products. Apparently, it just did.

Add New Comment

0Comments

Eventually, someone was going to step up and actually start doing something about the state of the world. You might have thought it would be a president--a senator, maybe--who would stand, point out at the future, and raise the alarm. Instead, it is business, and more specifically a certain strain of imaginative, entrepreneurial business, that has found the upside in addressing global malfunction. Whether old-line, established companies or tiny startups, they're tweaking old technologies and inventing startling new ones, tackling everything from pandemics to ancient scourges like hunger. Are they doing all this because they want to save the world, or because they can turn a profit? Yes. And not a moment too soon.